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Category: biotech/medical – Page 1,967

New coronavirus losing potency, top Italian doctor says

ROME (Reuters) — The new coronavirus is losing its potency and has become much less lethal, a senior Italian doctor said on Sunday.

“In reality, the virus clinically no longer exists in Italy,” said Alberto Zangrillo, the head of the San Raffaele Hospital in Milan in the northern region of Lombardy, which has borne the brunt of Italy’s coronavirus contagion.

“The swabs that were performed over the last 10 days showed a viral load in quantitative terms that was absolutely infinitesimal compared to the ones carried out a month or two months ago,” he told RAI television.

Scientists Discover So-Called ‘Skinny Gene’

VIENNA — We all know that one person who can eat whatever they like and never gain a pound. Ice cream at 2 in the morning? Bring it on. A third, or fourth, slice of pizza? Sure, why not. For the rest of us, the genetic perks that these individuals enjoy can be frustrating to say the least. Now, a groundbreaking new international study appears to have zeroed in on the so-called “skinny gene” that help keep such individuals thin.

Scientists from Austria, Canada, and Estonia say that lower, or deficient, levels of the gene Anaplastic Lymphoma Kinase (ALK) are significantly linked to skinniness and bodily resistance to weight gain.

Most research projects focusing on weight loss and gain search for genes that cause obesity. This study is novel due to the fact that it focuses specifically for a gene linked to thinness instead.

A Much-Hyped COVID-19 Drug Is Almost Identical to a Black-Market Cat Cure

A tale of GS-441524, the remdesivir sister drug that cures coronavirus (FIP) in cats, but that Gilead refused to develop for fear it would mess up the approval process of remdesivir.

Yes, it a tale of capitalism on steroids, and the FDA on drugs. It’s the kind of thing that may well kill you and your family, but you will never know about it (unless you read about it in The Atlantic, or some obscure journal).

Cat owners are resorting to China’s underground marketplace to buy antivirals for a feline coronavirus.

Sylvester, Miami Cancer Institute studying stem cells, cancer drugs to treat COVID-19

With more and more people contracting COVID-19, physician-scientists around the world are looking at existing drugs as potential treatments for the novel coronavirus.

Among them are cancer researchers launching new clinical trials or participating in multi-site ones to see whether drugs proven to be effective for another disease, particularly cancer, can help in treating COVID-19 cases.

At Miami Cancer Institute, part of Baptist Health South Florida, researchers are conducting several trials to investigate whether existing cancer drugs might provide some kind of therapy for COVID-19. The rationale: Cancer patients have similar immune system problems as coronavirus patients — namely, dangerous inflammation — and these medications effectively attack that problem.

Oxford University calls for 10,000 volunteers as coronavirus vaccine testing enters next stage

Oxford University scientists leading the global search for a coronavirus vaccine are to recruit “very healthy” over-55s to help with clinical trials.

The next phase of testing will focus on how older adults’ immune systems respond, the Oxford vaccine group said on Friday.

Scientists are looking for 10,260 people from across the UK to take the jab, considered a front-runner in the world race for a vaccine.

How toxic protein spreads in Alzheimer’s disease

Summary: Tau spreads through the human brain via neural communication pathways. The spread is accelerated by the presence of amyloid-beta.

Source: Lund University

Toxic versions of the protein tau are believed to cause death of neurons of the brain in Alzheimer’s disease. A new study published in Nature Communications shows that the spread of toxic tau in the human brain in elderly individuals may occur via connected neurons. The researchers could see that beta-amyloid facilitates the spread of toxic tau.

Detection of Explosives

Circa 2007

This chapter describes detection of explosives by terahertz Imaging ™. There has been an amplified interest in terahertz (THz) detection for imaging of covered weapons, explosives, chemical and biological agents. THz radiation is readily transmitted through most nonmetallic and nonpolar mediums. This process enables the THz systems to see through concealing barriers, which includes packaging, corrugated cardboard, clothing, shoes, book bags, and such others to find potentially dangerous materials concealed within. Apart from many materials of interest for security applications, which include explosives, chemical agents, and other such biological agents that have characteristic THz spectra which can be used for fingerprint testing and identify concealed materials. The Terahertz radiation poses either no or minimal health risk to either a suspect being scanned by a THz system or the system’s operator. As plastic explosives, fertilizer bombs, and chemical and biological agents increasingly become weapons of war and terrorism, and the trafficking of illegal drugs increasingly develops as a systemic threat, effective means for rapid detection, and an identification of these threats are required. One proposed solution for locating, detecting, and characterizing concealed threats is to use THz electromagnetic waves to spectroscopically detect and identify concealed materials through their characteristic transmission or reflectivity spectra in the range of 0.5–10 THz.